Mr. Md. Ilias Miah
Bangladesh
I am personally a climate, environment and human rights activist. I am the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development Forum or CEHRDF, a non-governmental organization.I consider climate change to be the world's number 1 crisis. I am witnessing its effects with my own eyes and I myself am internally displaced because of it. That is why I have dedicated my work, meditation, knowledge only to combating climate change. Since 2014 I have been continuously working on this.
For the past 6 years I have been working on climate and related movements, clean energy movement, policy advocacy, adaptation, mitigation, climate finance, transparency, accountability and sustainable development. I lead the policy board as the main policy maker in my organization.
In addition to other administrative responsibilities as a non-governmental organization, my work covers existing government policies such as Delta Plan, Five Year Plan, Annual Development Program, NGO Regulation, Climate Policy, Mitigation-Adaptation Policy, Riverine Policy, Environmental Protection Act, CHT Indigenous Protection and Coastal Policy. Review and do the necessary advocacy. As a young member of the Government's Climate Negotiation Team, I work in the government on climate financing for UNFCCC and COP issues.
My movement is directly and indirectly leads & support nature & biodiversity's important initiatives such as wildlife protection, conservation of nature and biodiversity, protection of endangered elephants in Asia, protection of trees and environment in Rohingya inhabited areas of southern Bangladesh and 60 million people in coastal areas. I am also working for this purpose all over the global south & very own in Bangladesh.
I have worked on several youth, women, climate change, nature protection, SDG implementation, refugee and migration crisis, environment and forest protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, Rohingya crisis, hill indigenous crisis, fund formation, management initiatives in my organization over the past 7 years.
At the field level, the organization led by me has created more than 3000 climate clubs across the country and is teaching climate mitigation and adaptation to youth, children, women and marginalized groups.
In the last 5 years, I have organized more than 1500 climate events and worked and spoke on climate justice, green transition, climate finance, affordable & clean energy, elimination of discrimination against women, necessary compensation, allocation of funds for vulnerable populations, women's protection, women's involvement in mainstream work, creating climate awareness.
We have organized a massive movement against the construction of coal-based power plants in Rampal, Banskhali and Matarbari. I have led this at the global level.
I am also working within the government to formulate and implement necessary policies. I have negotiated with the government in various ways across the country for women's rights, prevention of violence against women, gender-based equality, separate initiatives for women to deal with climate change, climate finance, climate governance, transparency and accountability in financing, sustainable agriculture, water resource management, forest and environmental protection.
I also work in Bangladesh Feminist Network at the regional level. As a result, we are creating a Nepal-based network for gender equality in the region.
Also, I am working as a youth member of the negotiation team of the Ministry of Women and Children, Government of Bangladesh. I have represented the civil society and youth of this country in COP and international conferences.
Currently I am working on SDG 7, 13,14,15, 16,17 at HLPF and also work on NGO Major Group, Indigenous Major Group, Women Major Group, Science Major Group, Youth and Children Major Group and Asia Co-ordinator at GFAN. I work as a chair.
I often represent in UN NGOCSW, UN WOMEN, NARIPOKKO, SDG Platform, UNFCCC, UNAOC, ILO, UNCTAD, HLPF, DESA, ECOSOC, ESCAP, ESCWA.
I served as a member of a Global Forum on Refugee and Migrant Women held in India.
Currently, I am serving as the President of Climate Refugee Network and Bangladesh Youth Climate Coalition.
I was also invited to the International Conference on Migration and Climate Refugees in India in March. Most recently I was invited to Russia on Youth Migration at the OIC Youth Capital. I am also a key Policy Maker of ELSAH-GALA in Asia Pacific Region led by Asia Development Alliance & Asia Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development. Moreover, I represent as the key negotiator at the US based Climate Champion Action Network for South Asia.